ST. ALBERT — Kevin Martin walked out of Servus Credit Union Place on Sunday night with a $13,000 bonus cheque in one hand and a Continental Cup of Curling points record in the other after defeating Thomas Ulsrud 39-16 in the final event of the international competition.

In a rematch of the 2010 Olympic Games gold-medal final, Martin stole a skin worth 35 points in the seventh end to cap a victorious week for Team North America, which captured the overall competition 298-102 over Ulsrud’s Team World.

Martin’s steal shattered the old mark of 290 points established by North America in 2007 at Medicine Hat.

“We were just trying to get to 31 (points), or whatever the magic number was,” Martin said of the record. “I don’t worry about that too much. In the end, Ulsrud had a pretty makeable shot to beat us. He just fired it on release and it didn’t come back.”

Ulsrud’s attempted double to score two in the seventh created a jam and left a Martin counter on the button for the steal. Ulsrud was sure he made the shot as he turned toward the World bench and shouted, “Show me the money.”

“That might have been premature, in retrospect, hey?” Martin said with a chuckle. “Thomas is a character. He would make that shot more than he misses it.”

The miss summed up the week for Team World.

“I was a touch tight on the broom and put it back. Halfway, I was sure I had it. Felt kind of stupid when I turned to the bench and called out, ‘Show me the money.’ Whoops, he jammed it,” Ulsrud said with a laugh.

“It caps off the week for Team World. It was close but on the wrong side of the inch.”

North America clinched the Continental Cup, and the $52,000 in team prize money, on Saturday night with a thrilling finish in which steals by a trio of its teams secured a 217-73 advantage.

“Of course, we didn’t expect this,” North American coach Rick Lang said of the early win. “But, you know, it started early. We just set the tone the very first day when we dominated, got some confidence and picked up a roll. After that, the only pressure was to attend to our own team and continue the good play.”

The onslaught continued throughout the week and culminated with last-end steals by Jennifer Jones, Kevin Koe and John Morris in skins play late Saturday night. Jones stole a 22-point skin to defeat Mirjam Ott of Switzerland 22-8. Koe swiped a nine-point skin to down Sweden’s Niklas Edin 21-9 and clinch the overall title. Morris actually drew the button in an extra end to defeat Scotland’s David Murdoch 19-11 in a mixed team skins matchup.

“It was some tough last minutes for us,” said World coach Peja Lindholm. “It was devastating for us. They were a lot better than us, we just have to accept that. We just didn’t perform as well as I know we can. When we are on the top level of our games, we play really well, but there were too many errors here. Our goal was to keep the Cup alive until the last game (Sunday), but we couldn’t do that so it is tough.”

Lindholm and team captain Pal Trulsen had some fun with it on Sunday, waving white flags in surrender in the fifth end of the final men’s game. Ulsrud’s rink tried to lighten the mood, as well, marching out in the outrageous Loudmouth Pants they usually wear. But tournament officials forced them to change into the proper uniform, much to the dismay of the crowd.

“We thought it was going to be a fun thing. The Cup was already lost. It was just this last game. Their argument was all the players have to look the same out there. … At least the crowd liked it,” said Ulsrud.

Lindholm and Trulsen later exchanged team jackets with the North American coaches and, when Martin called a time out in the fifth end, it was Lindholm who came out to consult with him about what shot to play. The moments added some brevity to a week in which Team World didn’t have much to smile about.

Wang managed to take the first 13 points on a carryover into the third end after executing a tapback for two. Bernard bounced back with six points in the fourth end and added 14 more on a two-end carryover in six and steals worth 10 points in the seventh end and 12 in the eighth.

That lopsided 42-13 win left Bernard with a perfect 4-0 in her rookie appearance in the event — 3-0 in team play and 1-0 in mixed doubles with Martin lead Ben Hebert.

The first team to 201 points claims the Cup, which was last won by Team World in 2008 in Camrose. North America now leads the series 4-3.

LAST ROCKS: Kevin Koe’s rink led all teams with a shooting percentage of 87. Positionally, Norway’s Havard Vad Petersson led leads at 94 per cent, Carter Rycroft was the top second at 92 per cent, Switzerland’s Ralph Stoeckli topped the thirds at 88 per cent, and Martin led skips at 87, just ahead of American Pete Fenson at 86. … Total attendance was 16,340.

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